Author

Creative Commons License

Date of Award

Fall 2014

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Department of Graduate Psychology

Advisor(s)

Richard Fuller West

Abstract

This study examined the relationships between three factors: patience, resistance to miserly information processing (RMIP), and life outcomes. Patience, or the ability to delay gratification in exchange for a larger reward, has been associated with having fewer negative life outcomes— those who are able to wait tend to have better lives. RMIP involves the tendency to think analytically instead of using heuristics (mental shortcuts). RMIP has had only limited study in terms of its relationship to actual life outcomes, but what has been examined so far has also suggested a positive relationship. In the present study, it was found that RMIP predicted general life outcomes, such that those with higher RMIP had fewer negative life outcomes above and beyond covarying factors, and the theoretical implications of RMIP as an area of study are discussed. Patience, as measured by a temporal discounting task, was not associated with life outcomes, and was not associated with RMIP. The researchers hypothesize that temporal discounting tasks may fail to adequately represent patience as a whole.

Recommended Citation

Kirkman, Tristan, "The interaction of patience and resistance to miserly information processing on life outcomes" (2014). Masters Theses. 4.
http://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/4